High praise for BT programming approach

When the creator of Java, one of the world's most recognisable and ubiquitous web-programming languages, describes a company's approach to software development as 'spot on', then it's clear that the company in question must be doing something right.

And that's exactly what happened after the team behind BT's recently launched Web21C software development kit (SDK) met with programming maestro James Gosling.

"The feedback we had from such an influential figure like James Gosling knocked our socks off ," says Dirk Wood of the Web21C SDK team. "In fact the general reaction we've had since we launched the kit has been absolutely tremendous. We've been recognised for this piece of innovation in several places including online news sites like The Register and Telco 2.0, numerous blogs and podcasts. The SDK was also credited as 'programmable web mash-up of the day' on."

Continues Dirk: "James Gosling told us that BT was one of the few telcos to 'get it'. He understands our reasons for wanting ideas and applications to bubble up from below, from the developer community, as opposed to from the top down where all the decisions on what should be built come from us."

Single line of code

And this is precisely what BT's SDK encourages. It allows product and service developers, from major enterprises to one-man programmer start-ups, to integrate their new applications with BT services in a single line of code.

"Our development kit makes it extremely easy for programmers to use our services within their own applications," says Dirk. "For example, if developers want to use a voice call or an SMS in their application or product, it's simple - they just need one line of code to accomplish it. And that's it. It can all be done very quickly leaving you to spend your time concentrating on your core applications functions."

Dirk is certain that taking this original and refreshingly open approach to software development will help to position BT as a leader in the web 2.0 world.

"No other telco in the world is doing this," he says. "BT is ahead of the game. This product shows that BT is in the business of becoming a fundamental part of the new world where innovation is agile and can originate from anywhere. This is central to what web 2.0 really means, it's where all services are going and we're right at the leading edge of this movement."

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